The Flywheel

This Week's Program: September 18, 2009Meeting at La Strada Restaurant, in San Pablo!

Money, Money, Money

Steven "Shags" Shagrin, Certified
Money Coach and Vice-president of the Money Coaching Institute,
Petaluma and member of the Rossmore Rotary presents the concepts
of “Financial
Personality, Money HabitudesTM” in an informative and entertaining manner.

This is a peek under
the hood at what makes you tick in the world of money, also
known as "internal
finance". Those of you who have a life partner may wish
to bring them as a guest, as the discussion after can be
very enlightening.

Last MEETING: September 11th, 2009

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

President-elect Alan Baer, acting for President
Glenn Daggs, called the meeting to order. Past President Stoney
Stonework requested a moment of silence for all those who lost
their lives on 9/11/01 and for peace, freedom, and justice
on earth. Rotarian Henry Kelman, in his thought for the day,
pointed out that Islam is not to blame for 9/11.

Rotarians with Guests

Michael Gill introduced his wife Dana.

Sunshine Report

Rotarian Bill Koziol, aka Mr. Sunshine, announced
that Mike Winter is recovering from hip replacement
surgery. Bill asked that members sign a card being passed for
him as well as one for Ludmyrna Lopez offering
condolences on the death of her mother.

Announcements

Acting President Baer and others had the following announcements:

Tickets are still available for the September 17 dinner
at the Mac followed by a performance of “Loot” at
the Masquers Play House.

This year’s Home Front Festival will be on October
3 at the Crane Way Pavilion and Lucretia Edwards Park. See
the schedule of
events.

Reopening ceremonies for the Richmond Civic Center will
be tomorrow, September 12, starting at 11:00 a.m. Rotarians
were urged to attend.

There will be “Music at the Point” this evening.

All Rotarians are reminded that next week’s meeting
will be at La Strada Restaurant instead of MVCC.

Recognitions

Past President Don Lau recognized Jim
Young for both a birthday and an anniversary, the
latter being his twenty-ninth. The former was not specified.

Happy and Sad Dollars

Stoney was glad that his alma mater, Ohio State
University, is meeting USC on Saturday.

Don Hardison thanked the Rotarians who
responded to the call for help at the Richmond Art Center.

David Brown expressed hope for the SF
Giants and their play-off chances.

Michael Gill was happy for the presence of the presenters
from Vetrazzo.

Alan Baer was happy about his one-year Rotary anniversary,
his 20th wedding anniversary, and his completion of his Paul
Harris.

Norm Lundberg is looking forward to a
trip to London, South Africa, and Botswana, followed by attendance
at his son’s wedding in Wisconsin.

Erle Brown had five happy dollars for
Cal’s football victory the previous Saturday.

Jovanka Beckles was happy to be at the
meeting.

Mark Grushayev had happy dollars “just
because.”

Don Lauwas happy about a week spent in
Hawaii with his parents.

Norm's Nonsense

A man is painting his house, and a hobo comes around and asks
if he can do something to earn a few dollars. The man says, "Sure,
take a can of this paint and go around to the back of the house
and paint my porch."

The hobo does this and fifteen
minutes later comes back and says he's finished. The man says, "Already?" The
hobo says, "Yeah, but it isn't a Porsche, its a Mercedes!"

Raffle Results

Someone drew a white ball and earned a free lunch.

THE PROGRAM

Vetrazzo: Gorgeous and Green

Jim Young introduced the day’s presenters from Vetrazzo,
Olivia Teter, the Chief Creative Officer, and John
Sabol, the
Head of Manufacturing.

Assisted by slide projections, John
explained that Vetrazzo makes countertops from recycled glass
by a process invented in 1996 by a Berkeley ceramics engineer.
Throughout the presentation, both speakers emphasized that
theirs is a very green business. The product is made from all
kinds of recycled glass such as beverage bottles, leftovers
from stained glass manufacturers, and many other sources, both
local and nation-wide.

The manufacturing process involves crushing the glass, mixing
it with concrete (which in turn is mixed with ground glass
rather than the usual sand), pouring it into a mold, curing
it under steam heat, and polishing it to a high gloss. The
result is a product with properties similar to granite but
with an extra dimension thanks to its glass content.

Other green features of their business include the
location in the old Ford plant and the recycling of all water
used in the manufacturing process. Flyers placed on the
tables announced a seconds sale at the plant on September 18
and 19.